Reset
by NikZkinE
Summary: Ninjaverse, YAOI, paring undecided, but would definitely be an UchihaxNaruto... "Would you do everything the same if given a second chance at anything? HELL NO! and of course the blonde think so too... read on as Naruto, slightly smarter, slightly better, and way louder as he trudged on and repeat his life from seven years old."
1. Disclaimer

**This is my statement of disclamation of any claims of ownership towards 'Naruto' the anime, the movies, the manga and its franchise.**

**I am not making profit in writing this story.**

**This story is written purely for my sadistic pleasures in setting up Kishimoto's characters in situations that they will not be normally in. And also of course for the fans of UchihaNaru pairing.**

**In any event that some behavioral patterns resemble people living or deceased is just pure coincidence and hence does not have any relation to this pic. The same goes if there were any situation that seemed to be familiar to some who reads this.**

**Now for the warnings. Let me just point out this very firmly, this fan made fictional story is a ****'YAOI'.**** It means there will be romantic and or sexual relations between men inside the story. If this theme is not to your taste then please do not read any further. I am not responsible for any scarring you may bring to yourselves upon further reading.**

**And now the other minor warnings:**

**Foul language**

**Angst and drama**

**Blood and mutilation (self and or otherwise)**

**Sexual situations**

**Sexual intercourse (consensual and or otherwise)**

**Some other controversies (if mentioned)**

**Last warning to the reader. If by some chance there was material in here that have offended you in some way, I apologize. We all have our own view in the world and this is how I see things. Thank you for your consideration and enjoy reading.**


	2. Reset

**.**

**.**

**.**

A voice was calling out in the darkness; a name he couldn't quite recall. It called again and even not knowing what name it was being called he knew it was his. He responded, reaching out towards the voice. Again it called, clearer and sounding that of a man's.

_Who is he, calling in my sleep…? _He wondered, pausing in the thought.

_Sleep? When did I fall asleep?_ He thought to himself in a stupor. The voice called clearer with another call.

He tried to recall with his partially aware mind.

"Naruto…" the voice called gently. The name sounded familiar in his ears.

_Who are you?_ He wondered as he reached forward and tried to grasp consciousness.

"Naruto…" urgently, the voice called.

He awoke, blinking his eyes into blinding light making him snap them shut tight again.

A groan crawled up Naruto's throat as he took stock of his body. Stopping short suddenly, he found that yes everything's there yet he couldn't move. He focused his senses towards his limbs. Again, he noted that everything was in perfect condition yet they are bound. He found that only a wiggle of toes and fingers was the most he could move them. Groaning again he tried to open his eyes and found that the light was now turned off.

Blinking his eyes to the sudden darkness he moved his head towards the bare window and watched the sun paint the sky red as it sets.

_Twilight…_ he absently thought and moved his neck back then towards his right.

"Naruto…" the voice called again earning a confused blink from the blonde as he stared at the caller with wide eyes. "I am very sorry…" the man said as his wrinkled face showed wry sadness as he looked at the boy. "I never knew they do this to you…" he continued gazing softly at the boy as wide blue eyes continued to stare at him disbelieving. "Are you that surprised to find you're alive...?" he asked softly frowning at the unusually quiet boy.

Naruto screwed his eyes shut as he turned his head towards the ceiling. He felt the dampness in his eyes and tried to hold back his tears.

_He can't be alive… Sandaime-jiji's dead, he died, how is he here?_ He thought to himself as he frantically fought his tears. Failing as he felt dampness by his ears.

Calming himself, he opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling, clenching his hands. "Why am I tied up?" he asked with a quiet voice as he found his throat raw.

"You kept trying to rip out your IV drip and screaming at the staff…" Sandaime said softly taking in the bitter smile the child gave.

Humming, Naruto's smile turned painful. "Must've been hell shutting me up huh?" the blonde asked with a small sarcastic chuckle.

A small grunt was his reply with scrutinizing eyes leaning against the hard backrest of the hospital chair. He lit his pipe and taking a drag before moving his gaze towards the setting sun. "What do you know, Naruto…?" he inquired softly breathing out the smoke he inhaled.

Sighing, Naruto grunted and wiggled as much as he could in his bonds. "Mind untying me first?" he asked in a grunt lying back as he gave up. With a quick hand sign the bonds were gone earning a breath of relief from the blonde. "I know everything." He said simply, sitting up on his bed and leaning against the headboard in exhaustion from the small task.

"How much of _everything…_?" Sandaime asked standing up and standing by the window puffing out smoke from his pipe once again.

"The fox and my father's legacy…" he said softly, noting the slight tensing of the other.

Another puff of smoke, Sandaime relaxed and leaned against the window sill. "From whom…?" he asked quietly, contemplating the conversation in his head.

"Does it matter?" Naruto sighed out leaning his head on the wall staring off into space.

_I don't even get what's happening let alone have a cover story for that… _he thought, closing his eyes as he relaxed.

"It's not like I know _them_…" he followed feeling the other moved around the bed and settled again on the chair.

"What do you plan to do now, now that you know?" the man asked taking a deep drag and letting it out slowly with almost no smoke escaping his lips.

"Nothing changes… nothing will _ever_ change…" Naruto said quietly opening his eyes and letting it settle on the other's face. "Right now, there's nothing I could do to change anything…" he said softly bringing his body to lay back and let the pull of sleep take him.

**.**

"**Naruto…"** called a menacing voice.

"Kurama…" Naruto called back opening his eyes, looking up into cool golden eyes of the demon fox.

"**We are in the past…" **he said lowering his head onto his front paws and staring at his container in the eye.

Naruto sighed standing up from his sitting position and walking towards the red beast. "Well that explains why the third's alive and kicking…" he sighed, burrowing his face into the soft fur of the fox's neck. "My question now is how we ended up back in time…?" he said into the fur earning him an answering grunt that shook his body.

"**I may have something to do with that somehow…" **the beast said a little dull. **"I may have done it through a selfish whim to continue living or maybe to just give us a second chance in life…" **he paused peering at his landlord that urged him to continue with a look. **"I used a space and time manipulating jutsu… or mainly, explained as the turning of the world back into a specific time with huge amount of chakra… I used the juubi's and mine's to make the travel and have protected our memory because of me being the so called 'caster'…" **he explained softly, not breaking eye contact with the other. **"Are you angry with me?"** he asked softly with his usual gruff tone that Naruto smiled at.

"No, I'm not, I actually am grateful…" he paused nuzzling his cheeks into to the heated fur. "…thank you…" he said into the fur.

They shared a small moment of comfortable silence before Naruto shifted and peered at Kurama who hummed, acknowledging the stare. "I wonder though, if the timeline changes and that the explosion never happened, then we won't get back into time then? Then the cycle will stop…?" the blonde asked leaning his back onto the beast and sliding down to sit.

"**Time is flowing, not a cycle, the present is today, and the future has yet to come… the future that we knew and lived do not exist anymore… we live in this time now… and time will catch up… the memories that we make will replace those we have had, but it will not fade since the memories that we had are within our souls and not this body's brain… we will always remember even if this body cannot."** The beast finished with eyes still closed waiting for his host to ask another question he knows will come.

When the silence drags on the fox risked a peek at the blonde he found the other staring at him blankly before blinking. "…I kinda get it and at the same time I don't…" he said scratching at his head. "So in short, I'll remember the past, err, the former future but this body that never had 'lived' it…" he quoted. "…won't be able to handle what I know right?"

Kurama grunted and closed his eyes once more. "**Basically, yes that is one way of describing it…"** he said noncommittally.

**.**

Darkness greeted his blue eyes as he returned to consciousness. A sigh escaped Naruto's lips as he felt his injuries gone. Slowly he pushed himself up to sit. Moments passed as he stayed seated, unmoving. Absently he felt the coarse material of the hospital yukata brush against his skin as he breathed slowly and evenly, falling into meditation as he found it's all he could do.

A deep hum inside his mind snapped him out of his trance yet still sat there unmoving, breaths still even and muscles relaxed. "Are you here to finish what you failed to complete?" Naruto whispered into the room.

The dark, still room became stifling as a looming presence showed itself. Silent footsteps moved towards the still unmoving blonde as blue eyes slowly fluttered open and settled itself on the wall across his bed. The footsteps stopped by the chair. With only the air shifting, the presence settled itself onto the chair.

"Before you kill me…" Naruto whispered into the silent room. "I want to know the reason…" he asked quietly. All sense of patience left when an audible thud sounded through the room. The figure moved, not bothering on masking its movements, showing that it was a man, around a hundred and seventy centimeter tall, lean. He was impatient, arrogant, easily provoked and emotional.

"A monster like you shouldn't even be alive…" he answered in a gruff growl.

Naruto breathed a sigh, smiling as he closed his eyes. "A monster huh…" he murmured to himself. Opening his eyes he moved to look at where he guessed the man was at. "How am I a monster…?" he asked the man, gaze unwavering even when clouds made way for the moon, bathing the room with its cold light.

"You killed hundreds…" the man snapped at him. "Indiscriminately killing anyone in your path, women, children, and the weak…" he growled out, voice wavering as tears flow down his eyes. "…you took away my happiness! …My family!" the man insisted with maddening eyes, glaring at Naruto, at the beast inside him.

"Was it really my hands that were stained with the blood of your family?" Naruto asked, voice soft as he moved his gaze towards the full moon shining an ominous red in the night hearing a small grumbled 'sorry' in his head bringing a smile to his face. "…was it really me, who at that time was nothing but a mere baby born that night… unfortunate enough to be the son of the one who had the fox sealed within her…" he continued, frowning as he felt that there was something important nagging at the back of his mind as he stared at the moon. A sinking feeling stirred in his stomach as he continued to eye the bloody moon.

_I remembered looking up to a bloody red moon when I was boy… _he paused in thought as his eyes widened. Naruto shot up from the bed looking at his reflection from the darkened window pane. He took in the small stature he has, small as that of a child. _When I was seven…_

Quickly he turned to the tensed man with confliction written on his face. He jumped from the mattress and quickly strode up to the man snatching a kunai from the other's pouch. Quickly the man snapped into action gripping Naruto's wrist with bruising force. "I knew it…" he growled which Naruto returned with his own.

"I don't have time to deal with you! Which route do I take to get to the Uchiha district the fastest?" Naruto growled glaring at the man with red slit eyes.

The man moved to attack when three masked ANBUs appeared in the room. Orders were read and the man subdued in mere moments. One of the three moved towards the blonde but was instead brought to his knees when the child dragged him by the collar. "Which is the fastest route towards the Uchiha district?" he asked in haste.

"T-towards the west from here…" croaked out by the teen as Naruto guessed by the other's height.

"…if you can travel by foot through roofs that is…" one of the other two added with a smug tone, knowing that he can't.

Releasing the teen with a none-too gentle shove, Naruto forced his inexperienced body to do what his mind wants to and jumped through the window after quickly opening it. His body was falling and his body wouldn't listen to him.

_KURAMA! _He bellowed in his mind. The fox grunted and forced his chakra through the boy's chakra system, forcing them awake.

Naruto gritted his teeth; wincing at the suffocating feeling the forced awakening that smothered his body brought. Twisting his body quickly, he maneuvered his way in the air and landed soundly on top of an electricity post near the hospital. Staggering slightly at the overwhelming feeling of having his chakra gates opened then closed, Naruto gritted his teeth and closed his eyes to control the sudden flow of chakra.

'_That' better not shortened my lifespan fox! _Naruto shouted in his mind before finding his center and jumping off the post and towards the direction he was told.

He was given a scoff. **Once upon a time, animals used the same method to teach their young about life force… you'll be fine, since you have the knowledge to use it.**

Naruto nodded and hastened his pace; pushing more chakra onto his feet enough to leave a small crack on where he'd been without even a single glance towards the room he fled from leaving the three gaping ANBU behind with their jaws still slacked.

**.**

Blood red eyes gazed down at the bloodied masterpiece he had created. Furrowed brows followed as eyelids shut hiding the glowing eyes from view. Tears formed at the corner of the lids falling when it was too much for the lashes to hold. Again, he opened his eyes focusing onto the small boy running down the deadly silent street of their home.

A gust of wind blew and along with it the man disappeared from his perch on an electric post just before the young boy of eight brought his midnight eyes up towards it.

Seeing nothing, the boy turned and continued on his way home but stuttered into a stop as he eyed the fallen forms of his relatives littering the streets.

"W-what is this?" he whispered into the wind before pushing his feet in a run towards his home, praying that his family isn't in the same state.

The child skidded into a halt in front of his home. He moved through the halls in a hasty run, calling his mother and father. "Mother, Father?" he bellowed.

"Sasuke…! Don't come in!" bellowed out a voice he knew well in response to his call.

A thud echoed through the silent house and quickly, the boy made his way towards it. He froze upon arriving at the door to the dojo, where he guessed the sound came from. His body shuddered at the feeling of fear creeping up his spine. Screwing his eyes shut, Sasuke steeled himself and slid the door opened eyes landing immediately upon the bloodied corpses of his parents. His father was lying on his wife in a pose the seemed was protective. Blood pooled onto the polished wooden floor inching every slowly towards him it seemed.

A movement caught his eye and found a figure in the shadows. He tensed, his whole being screaming for him to run but couldn't as his body refuse to listen to him. The figure stalked forward instilling fear to the boy who now stood shaking.

Moonlight shone through the room, giving a name to the man standing above the two bodies on the floor. "Aniki!" he called in a panicked voice.

"WHY? Father, mother, why? WHY DID YOU DO THIS?" Hysteria began to spread through the boy's mind as his brother just continued to watch him. Nothing showed onto his brother's face but cold indifference. Fear dropped onto his stomach as his brother's red eyes bored into him, piercing him with its freezing gaze.

He knew though that this fear was for his own life, for somehow he knows that he is looking in the eyes of a killer.

The man twitched his hand and a shuriken flew in the air quickly intercepted by a panting blonde. The teen blinked, looking at his brother who lay unconscious on the floor, knowing that it was this blonde that knocked him out.

"Itachi…" Naruto called, a kunai held by his left hand poised in the air with its tip piercing the handle hole of the still spinning shuriken. His other poised in a defensive stance under his left. Feet crouched to accommodate his weight balanced to stay firm or move swiftly if need be.

"Don't do this…" he said as he straightened from his stance, dropping the shuriken and kunai with a metallic clink to the ground. "…You'll only break him." he continued staring at the man, no, fellow child in front of him. "…is his happiness worth giving up for his safety?" he asked moving forwards, around the bodies and towards Itachi who turned to him. He reached up touching the blood splattered face of a boy who loved the village so much as to kill his family for it.

Itachi stared at the blue eyes of the boy in front of him, feeling a sense of calm come over him instead of suspicion on why the child just _knew_. Slowly, his eyes whirled back into its onyx color. "He needs to get stronger…" he said lamely, weakly as he leaned into the touch. "…he has to hate me to get stronger…" he continued, watching those sad blue eyes glisten yet tears never came.

"You know that hatred will only destroy him…" the blonde whispered letting his outstretched hand fall to his side. "…just look at how it eats you…" he said softly, his gaze never straying from the Itachi's.

"…then what is it should I do?" Itachi asked voice soft, eyes falling half-mast as his body surrendered to exhaustion. Heart and mind too exhausted as he slumped forward into a broken stance.

"Leave…" Naruto murmured as he guided Itachi's face with both his hands to have him look him in the eye. "Leave and let him ask questions… let him grow stronger with the goal of asking you 'why'…" he said letting his hands fall to side again. "Leave and find your own set of answers to your questions…" he said with a smile. "He'll find you, and when he does…" he trailed before shrugging and giving him a grin. "…well you burn that bridge when you get there…" he said finally.

Itachi stared down at the younger child that actually gave him hope; a child same as him that lit a light in his darkening path. A smile painted his lips as he brought his hand up and patted the blonde on the head.

And then he was gone.

**.**

Naruto sat stiffly against his bonds and chakra suppressors. He wiggled in his seat as the hospital yukata folded uncomfortably against his behind. He felt a whine bubble up his throat but swallowed it when his guard ANBU snapped at him to sit still. The blonde sighed and tried to ignore the pinching feeling of the fold and couldn't help but squirm again.

"I said stop moving!" the ANBU snapped with controlled annoyance.

Glaring back at the bird masked ANBU Naruto couldn't help but snap back. "Well let's see you stay still when a fucking fold keeps pinching you in the ass huh!" he said with a growl.

The room was silent for a few moments before another ANBU appeared this time with a hound mask, chuckling. "I'd be pretty uncomfortable too if it were me…" Naruto sneered at the new comer and squirmed in his seat harder earning a growl from the bird and a chuckle from the hound.

"Well, let's go then, the third wants a word with you…" hound said turning to the bird and motioned for the other to release his bonds.

Once free, Naruto quickly fixed the annoying fold and sighed with relief. He then turned to the hound who motioned for them to leave. Sighing, he trailed after the man unenthusiastically, dragging his feet as he walked.

The walk took a few more minutes than intended as Naruto kept dragging his feet and the hound not bothering on chastising him on it. When the two arrived, Naruto looked at the familiar door with a barely hidden frown. There were three others in the room besides the third and he had a sinking feeling he knows who they were.

The hound raised his fist to knock when Naruto didn't bother to and pushed the door open. The hound blinked at the room and looked down at the boy who had the audacity to enter without knocking. He looked up towards the desk and nodded at the dismissive gesture the Hokage gave before bowing slightly and retreating back and closing the door with him. Outside the door the hound tilted his head in intrigue before shrugging and standing guard by the wall.

.

Naruto stared at the four people in the room and moved forwards stopping a few feet away from them. "I didn't do it." he said simply glaring at the bandaged man who narrowed his eyes in return.

The third sighed and leaned against his chair taking a deep drag from his pipe before slowly breathing it out as small wisps of smoke. "I know you didn't Naruto… the traitor revealed his self to me before fleeing…" he cut offed when the tense boy snarled at him glaring.

"He didn't flee! You made him leave! He's not a traitor!" he bellowed before glaring at Danzou and the two elders standing. "You told him to do it! You fucking assholes!" he shouted in his childish voice.

The four drew back at the child's words while as Danzou glared at the blonde with contempt. "Pity you know of this, we cannot allow you to live any longer…" he said moving towards Naruto.

Naruto took a step back and did seals quickly molding his chakra for the technique, praying that it'll work. Spinning wheels of chakra formed on his hand and he threw it to the old man who dodged it easily. Though with no practice at all in his new body, Naruto didn't have the same accuracy as he did before. The wheels curved and Naruto mentally cheered as the wheels slashed through Danzou's bandaged arm and face while as the man only managing not being hit fatally by the sharp wheels. His brief cheer shattered when he was gripped tightly around the neck by the man with his now exposed arm.

Everything happened in a blur of colors. The Hokage moved and incapacitated Danzou as well as dropping the wards in the room, the hound entered alert and search the room of danger quickly restraining the two other elders who was poised to attack all before Naruto fell on the ground coughing out saliva before wheezing and passing out.

**.**

**.**

**.**

A kaleidoscope of colors welcomed Naruto as he left the land of dreams. Groaning, he brought his arm to his eyes trying to escape the light that's burning his eyes.

_This seems to be happening quite often lately…_ he thought to himself earning a deep chuckle from his tenant.

"How are you feeling…?" a voice asked softly, Naruto recognizing it as the third.

"Like I was almost garroted before the authorities actually caught the real criminal…" he rasped out, wincing at the burn in his throat.

"Here, drink this…" Sandaime said as he helped the boy up tipping the small cup of medicated water in the boy's mouth. "…slowly…" he softly reprimanded when the blonde choked when he hurried to drink. Finished, he placed the cup back on the side table and studied the boy.

Feeling eyes on him Naruto looked up to the old man and awkwardly moved his gaze away.

"How did you know about the Uchihas? And how are you able to mold chakra into a technique? The academy has yet to let students in your year perform techniques much less teach them…" Sandaime pushed intently staring at the uncharacteristically silent boy.

_HELP!_ Naruto bellowed in his mind. The fox murmured a few sentences in reply then seemingly went back to sleep.

"I…" he croaked out before taking a deep breath and starting again with his still rasping voice. "I heard about the Uchihas when I was sneaking around trying to find a good spot to lay a prank on someone…" he bowed his head and closed his eyes. "I heard him tell Itachi-san to choose between the village and his family… I ran from the place when they left then bumped into _those_ people and ended up in the hospital before telling you what happened…" he continued then opened his eyes and saw his hands shaking, this was technically the first time he's lying this bad. "I couldn't think straight, they told me about the fox and joked around that if the fourth really was my father then he really must h-hate me because he s-sealed…" he broke off in a sob and furiously rubbed at his eyes when tears moistened in them. The tears came easily enough at the memory of his previous past, a memory after the reveal of the truth and if maybe, he really was hated by the man, his hero, who sealed the demon inside him.

"Hush child, that's not the reason he sealed the fox in you…" Sandaime whispered as he stroked the blonde's head. "Now tell me how did you managed to perform that Wind style: Blade Rings technique… that's an A class ninjutsu since it's hard to control in contrast to its ease to conjure up…" he asked softly and noted how the blonde tensed, sobs coming to a complete stop.

"If, only if okay!" the blonde asked looking up at the old man with puffed out eyes. The man nodded and the child turned to sit facing him. "If, I kind of, sort of, incidentally, _borrowed_ one of the Class A ninjutsu scrolls from the Jounin library how much trouble am I in?" he asked quietly looking nervously at the old man.

"Well since you only _borrowed _it then I might have to just personally punish you…" the man said fondly, secretly relieved at the childish behavior of the boy.

"W-what kind of punishment…?" Naruto asked uneasily secretly thinking he didn't want to clean the public toilets for a month.

Sandaime made a show of considering it as he hummed. "Well, I'll pardon you if you _can _return the scroll tomorrow night when I have the security tightened…" he said with a boyish grin.

Naruto inwardly sighed. "I already did though…" he said with a sly smile.

Frowning, the man stroked his chin, this time really considering the punishment. He hummed looking at Naruto who waited impatiently. "Are you familiar with the ANBU dorms?" he asked the boy who thought for a moment before nodding warily.

"They have a system where they can send their laundry to be cleaned for them…" he explained which Naruto listened intently on.

_I never knew that…_ he contemplated blinking.

"I want you to prank all the uniform of the tenants there… don't worry, all of them uses the laundry system since they're always busy… the deadline is until the end the month on the monthly ANBU inspection… I'll leave what kind of prank it is to you, but I want every one of them pranked understood?" he said with twinkling eyes, he can't do anymore pranks like he did in his youth from him being always busy.

"Okay!" Naruto chirped with a devious smile before turning around and muttering to himself then cackling like mad bringing the old man to sweat drop at his actions.

**.**

Naruto looked down on his notes and nodded, reassured. _3 weeks and two days till the inspection… _he reminded himself as he hid his notebook in his backpack and zipped it close before surveying the ANBU dorms. Wringing his hands in giddy anticipation, Naruto felt his face cramp as his grin never faltered from his face since he had planned the whole prank the whole night in the hospital raising eyebrows at his unusual silence throughout his stay.

A seven stories building was all the dorms ground consisted off. Most of the instated ANBUs preferred to live their free time or 'breathing' time, as some paranoid ones call it, with their loved ones. The building's built like any other apartment building except for the chakra signature system. No one that doesn't live inside can enter without an escort.

_Though they fell short when it came to the windows of each room… _Naruto thought smugly as he surveyed the grounds.

Every ANBU has a paranoia worse that the Tokubetsu-Jounin and that was saying something. And due to this paranoia, none of them trusted anyone with the security of their homes. And that's their biggest weakness.

"Itadaki…" Naruto murmured with a grin.

**.**

**1****st**** week**

Naruto crept deathly silent masking his chakra till he can't use one drop at all. He relied mostly in his flexibility and balance as he climbed at the last of the seventh story windows in the cover of the shadows taking full advantage of the lack of the light from the last two days of the new moon.

With eyesight and reflexes enhanced with the fox's help he silently landed onto the veranda of the last apartment room he'll inspect. Feeling a manic grin tugged at his lips, Naruto began his task.

Slowly he let his elongated nails tap lightly at the wards, testing sensitivity. Seeing at nothing happened, he deduced that the traps were made for humans _trying _to get in and disregards most of the soft touched animals.

_Easy~… _Naruto hummed in his head before continuing on with the extraction of the chakra.

Carefully, he inserted a _very_ small amount of chakra towards one of the more meager traps watching in practiced patience with a readied scroll in hand. Slowly the trap tripped and a small lighting technique gave off a light voltage screen. Quickly, Naruto took a very small sample into the scroll, tying it and storing it in his hidden pocket.

And then suddenly, the light turned on making him freeze. The figure from behind the curtains, which Naruto questioned slightly on its color of pink, moved towards the window and stopped.

The window slid opened with the curtain aside, traps disabled. The ANBU looked down onto the innocent squirrel with smoking fur and frazzled nerves that backed away from his approach. The Nin sighed in relief with a small smile before bending down to his knees and scooping the animal in his arms lightly stroking its fur to normality before letting it go a near branch and closing his window, traps set up and active.

Naruto watched in rapped interest a few trees away holding a squirming female squirrel in his hand as the so called cold hearted ANBU pet the animal before letting it go.

_They're just lonely…_ he thought to himself not minding the scratching and biting of the mate of the squirrel he thoughtlessly switched with him.

Naruto stood and shook his head lightly, watching absently as the male squirrel made his way back to the tree before gently letting the female go and jumping off into the shadows with a frown on his face.

_They shouldn't be secluded so much… _he thought in passing. _I have to talk about this with the Jiji somehow… _he mentally noted before breaking out into a sly grin.

_ANBU Chakra residue collecting [DONE]… _he thought giddily.

**.**

**2****nd**** week**

You'd think that finding a good wood for a stamp would be as easy and selecting one from the hundreds or maybe thousands of trees that surrounded Konoha. But alas, the blonde stomped through the forest, frustrated at the numerous littered dried branches around.

It wasn't easy selecting a grade 'A' wood for a normal stamp much more finding one that can support chakra and be whole inside to not botch the seal design to be carved onto it.

But all he's seeing are garbage worth only for a warm camp fire for genins out on their first mission to prove themselves.

A snort snapped him from his angry tirade through the innocent foliage.

'_**What?!'**_ he snapped to his tenant who again repeated the sound and laughed from the back of his throat.

"**You, kit, are technically not even genin yet, mind that you never did graduated from **_**being**_** genin from our previous life…"** said the beast to him which in turn infuriates the blonde even more.

'_**Oh shut your trap you big pile of fur!'**_ the blonde's retort fell flat for the lack of a more creative one. He heard another mocking sound that he chose to ignore and continued on his quest to find the perfect wood for his mission.

The sun set and came again in the morning and yet, Naruto had had no luck in finding the wood type he needed for his seal. But refusing to give up just yet, he scoured over a three hundred mile of forest and still found nothing. The sun is setting yet again and still no progress has been made.

Scowling at his failure, Naruto stomped briskly towards home and kicked a tree in frustration when it 'came' upon his way.

He cursed at the poor tree and kicked it some more, degrading the innocent plant of being in his way. The tree retaliated finally with its branch that fell with an impressive thunk on the blonde's head which said blonde took quite harshly with an indignant squawk and flailing of the arms as he fell to the ground.

Confused and a whole lot dazed Naruto looked up at the tree expecting it to be looming over him ready to deal another blow. Disappointingly though, he only found the tree standing there tall and unaffected from his angry tantrum. Sighing, he stood and dust himself off and reached down to remove a twig poking him on the leg when he saw a beautifully dried branch, newly fallen onto the ground, untouched by the critters who fed upon dead undergrowth and dried branches and more importantly, **whole**.

"Oh bless you great tree! I'll come back and properly offer you my thanks, but for now, I'm behind schedule already!" he enthused giving the tree a brief embrace before dashing off to the direction of town and into his apartment.

Once safe inside, with all wards up and active, he went into his work room that still boggled his mind on even deciding to _make_ one; though today he has no time, nor the mind to boggle as his excitement went through the roof.

He dug out all his carving supplies and lined them up neatly. No need for magnifying glass when he had the eyes of Kyuubi so he skipped it and went about to skinning the rough bark exposing the beautiful wood underneath.

He was halfway done on sanding the branch when his wards flared and a few traps were tripped. He stood with a brow raised at the clone made to be a security record.

"**There are two attempting intruders… one intruding acquaintance identified as Umino Iruka the other two, are listed as ANBU…"** said the clone mechanically seeing as it really had no consciousness. **"The two ANBUs are subdued and are restrained… Umino Iruka stands fidgeting in worry while banging on the front door…"** the clone further reported.

Sighing, Naruto stood and went to his door, deactivating the wards only on the front doors and came face with a frazzled Iruka. "Hey Iruka-sensei, what's up- whoa!" he screeched out when the brunette launched towards him in an embrace.

"Naruto! You're safe! Thank goodness…" the brunette trailed in a relieved sigh crushing the young man in a tight bordering suffocation embrace.

"S-sensei, I can't breathe…" Naruto choked out.

Swiftly the man shot away with a sheepish expression. "Oh! Sorry about that…" he said scratching at the scar on his nose before standing and offering a hand to the still sprawled blonde on his genkan floor.

"What's up with you coming so late anyways?" Naruto asked fixing up the fallen umbrellas back onto its stand. He turned to the man to find him staring him down with a thunderous expression that slowly had the blonde backing away, sweating. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it since I had something to do for the last two days…"

"Yes, two days of no contact what so ever…" Iruka said slowly crossing his arms and looking down at Naruto who seemingly shrunk even smaller at the man's gaze. "You didn't come to school for two days, I checked your apartment but no one answered the door-"

Naruto stopped listening at that point, he knew he left instructions to the clone to greet the brunette if he swung by to ask questions and pretend to be under the weather to escape this kind of scene. Unless, unless someone were to break inside and scour around. He left instructions specifically to never Sho himself to anyone if someone did so.

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME NARUTO?" the brunette exclaimed with a tick on the forehead.

"Yes, sorry… I had something the old man wanted me to do so I was gone for a bit…" Naruto answered with a sheepish smile all the while mentally listing every name he knows who could outwit him when it comes to seals.

A few more reassuring words and apologies, the brunette finally relaxed and went on his way home. He shut the door, automatically activating the wards and went to find the clone.

"How many break-ins had occurred while I was gone and why didn't you report it immediately upon my return." Naruto asked the clone who still stood motionless in the middle of his work room. Promptly the clone turned and addressed his maker.

"**There were three break-in all in all, nothing was taken, nothing was left, no tampering was made but a thorough search of the place was made… they left nothing to serve as a spying medium and left when they placed everything back to its place…"** then he paused and seemed to give Naruto a tired look. **"…and I did report it to you when you returned once the wards are up, I followed you here and reported what had happened and yet it seemed you weren't paying me much attention." **The clone finished.

Naruto frowned and rubbed at his face before sighing. "Alright, sorry… have the wards upgraded into level two of the lethal version, and have the seal wards upgraded to complete shut-out… keep an eye out to civilians and make sure they don't kill themselves trying to break in." Naruto instructed before going to his desk and settling himself and picking up the branch to slice it.

"**Understood…" **the clone affirmed before going quiet then asking again. **"What do I do to the two restrained ANBUs?" **the clone asked.

Naruto paused with an electric saw in hand and thought about it. "Record the memory of why they wanted in and then wipe their failed attempt from their memories and send them on their way… do make sure the wipe isn't detected by anything." He added before getting back to his task absently feeling the hum of the upgraded wards sound through the place.

A few more hours into the night and then morning, the sun rose and Naruto finally has the stamp finished. It was small and only the size of one ryo coin but the intricate seal was done with.

Heaving a stuttering sigh, he rose and went to the stash of invisible ink and started the grueling task of infusing his chakra on it. It wasn't really a hard task to do, just that it took time and finesse to carefully have the entirety of the liquid to be swimming naturally with his chakra and not expelling it.

When finally, the ink has absorbed the chakra naturally and having had its shade be transformed completely into that of the ink's essence, Naruto then started the process of infusing the small bits of chakra of all the dorm tenants into the ink. After a grueling six more hours of work, finally Naruto's done and collapsed right there in front of the jar of ink and dozed off into oblivion absently marking his second task complete.

_Seal carving on stamping wood and infusing chakra on ink [DONE]…_ he thought before drifting.

**2****nd**** week 4****th**** day**

_It's a necessary evil to bow down to the old man to have him put me in for the job… _Naruto tried to convince himself as he checked and double checked his appearance in the mirror. There he was looking at a very plain and forgettable young woman.

Using a henge was a no-no seeing as he was infiltrating a paranoid ninja establishment so he took every trick he knew about appearance altering; even turning to make up for an added effect, out his arsenal to dish out. Though, most of the transformation forms were due to Kurama's help of molecular manipulation.

When finally, he feels himself forgettable enough he picked up the silver necklace carved with a limiting seal to seal his chakra down to only that of an innocent fly. Slipping it over his head, he gave his reflection a nod of determination and went off to report for his first day of work in the ANBU dorms laundry.

He arrived and promptly got ignored by his own boss. He smiled to himself; everything's looking good for him already.

"Excuse me…" he asked in a small voice, small and dainty, forgettable voice.

"Yes?" the old woman hummed before turning to look at the blonde, now turned brunette. "Oh, Satou-san… I wasn't expecting you for an hour more…" the woman said looking back into her clip board and then back to 'Satou'.

_A very forgettable name…_ the blonde thought to himself giddily.

"I hadn't had anything to do, and I really need this job…" Naruto turned Satou answered demurely, hands twirling the fringe of her shirt in a 'nervous' habit.

"I see…" the woman said, empathizing at the implied need for money. She turned back to her board. "It says here, you're _only_ good at laundry? What does that mean exactly?" she asked moving to sit behind her desk and motioning for Satou to sit as well.

"I'm hopeless with any chores…" Satou started fiddling now with her finger when she sat down across the woman. "Cleaning, cooking, doing the dishes, feeding the animals, and even just dusting turns into such a disaster that my parents almost disowned me for being a useless daughter, not even worth marrying off…" she trailed, voice growing softer and softer.

"…but somehow! Somehow, I am great at handling clothes. Washing them, folding, ironing, and packaging! I can do it perfectly well." She said 'enthusiastically' even though her voice didn't reach normal volume.

"Though not many civilians need their clothes washed for them, other ninja dorms are full of staff already and I was getting desperate when I heard that the ANBU dorms are always understaffed. I felt overjoyed that finally I could get a job that I'd be good at!" Satou exclaimed, cheeks in a pale blush of excitement.

_Understaffed, yes because no one wants to be in close parameters with 'killers'…_ the woman behind her desk smiled a little tightly which Naruto took as her being a little repulsed with him which only made him grin inside.

The woman gave the younger one a soft smile. She knew how it was to survive in a world where women still tends to get bullied by men and some women. Especially if you yourself were made to believe that you were nothing and that you could do nothing.

"Well, here we _need_ your talents… welcome aboard Satou-san to the ANBU dorms laundry assist team." The woman said kindly.

_Uh-oh I think I made a good impression…_ Naruto thought with a sweatdrop.

**.**

"The ANBUs that resides within our dorm are mostly stationed within and around the perimeter of the gates… so the laundry comes in two batches in accordance to their rotation." Kamiki-san, his tutor was telling him as they toured the facility of the separate laundry building. "We don't know which ANBU it is that get rotated so don't bother with trying to know which clothes is whose if you have a crush with one of the tenants…" she said dismissively with a frown as if she already tried it once.

_Doesn't really matter so long as I get everything stamped…_ Naruto thought a little excitedly.

**.**

The process of stamping the first batch was surprisingly dull, seeing as they were understaffed so the tasks were divided to the five of them. The washing was left to two, the putting up clothes for drying and collecting were left to the other two and the folding was left to him alone seeing as it was the most mundane and not really a heavy job to be done. He was given two days to finish the folding, which he did in about an hour more or less, with everything stamped of course.

The next day, he sent in the report of having done early and the segregating team started the segregation of the clothes. Apparently, there was a way to determine, which is whose clothes. There was a small mark of initials hidden away in a fold where only the segregation team knew of and now the blonde since he volunteered to help.

After a few hours of putting whites with whites, colored with colored and under garment with undergarments, came next the actual segregating of clothing to their specific owners. He had to admit though, that with the system the team had, everything was done fast and efficient. I guess the tenants do need a clean set if they were to go to their next mission.

Finished with the segregating and then packing, the mountain of clothing seemed a little daunting for only two women, _petit_ women, to be lugging up the seven stories of the building.

Feeling his chivalrous gene act up, Naruto volunteered on helping. He was given one floor to cover. He tried to negotiate another one, or two floors, but he was turned down with soft chuckles, saying he was 'so small and dainty that we're afraid you'd fall and have the mountain of clothes trap you beneath'.

So with a protruding pout he went with his small pile of clothing on a trolley to the seventh floor brooding.

He started with the end isle so that he'd be near the elevator when he's done.

He was putting the last of the packaged clothing near the last door when said door opened and staggered out a bleeding ANBU minus the armor.

There was a split second that Naruto was panicked on what to do until he chose to shriek; even if it was a _very_ hard decision to make.

And shriek he did before falling on his behind and crawling away from the now raggedly breathing man, no wait teen?

A few suffocating seconds passed and the body continued to breathe shallowly while Naruto stayed plastered against the wall, not knowing what to do. Should he help? Then his cover was blown. So, he guessed, he needs to shout for help.

"H-help!" he stuttered for effect and went to the communicating tube by the elevator and shouted in 'Satou's' loudest voice. "Help! Someone's injured! H-he's bleeding! Help!" he shrieked into the receiver and heard a hasty reply from one of the other women he's with.

They were taking slow so he went back towards the body and carefully settled a few feet away kneeling. He didn't want to be a pincushion if he managed to tick the ANBU in coming too close.

"T-they're calling for h-help…" he said to the teen who only groaned in response. "…d-did you n-need anything?" he asked softly still staring at the young man sprawled and bleeding on the floor.

"W-water…" choked out the teen and Naruto was on his feet and by the hallway sink filling a small canteen he had carried around when he found that the place was humid as hell. It was empty since he drank from it earlier.

Hurriedly he went back to the teen and carefully placed the canteen a foot near the teen's head before moving away slowly.

"C-can't m-move…"

_Uh duh Naruto! _Naruto face palmed internally, before nearing the teen and picking up the canteen.

He assessed the teen and figured lying face down wouldn't get any water down his throat so slowly he moved to accommodate the man. "I-I'm gonna m-move you to lie on your back okay?" he said softly before moving the man carefully and exerting only enough strength that of what he's portraying. When he had the teen on his back he lifted the other's head and slowly tipped the canteen to his mouth.

When finished, he capped the canteen and left it aside then slowly lowered the other's head on the ground. Suddenly though there were people rushing towards them, asking a million question at once, treating the teen and then asking some more question before they ushered him out the building and was told good work for giving him water, for the starting dehydration.

**.**

Naruto walked back with a tired sigh before slipping in the public bathroom he used to transform back into Naruto.

He was halfway home when he remembered his canteen. He shrugged and continued on, it's not like he left any finger, chakra nor saliva print on it. That night when he laid on his bed thinking of the only eventful thing that had happened in the two days he was with the laundry team, he suddenly smiled maniacally remembering and thought to himself. _Laundry collection and seal application (batch 1) [DONE]_

**3rd week**

A few days passed after the incident. Naruto continued on with his life, going to school, pranking people, snoring in class, failing in class, _passing_ class, and eating ramen. Everything went as it did in a normal day until that is it was his shift to go to the laundry to fold clothes.

He arrived early, as was accustomed of 'Satou' and went off to the storing room and found the mountains upon mountains of clothes he needs to fold. He shrugs and rolled up his sleeves and was about to get to work fast and segregate everything as well when he felt a presence.

So he sat on a stool and folded slowly, daintily and utterly boringly. A few hours in, he finished a mountain of clothing and eyed the few more mountains still. Heaving a staged sigh, he stood and stretched his back and neck before sitting back down.

He was reaching for a shirt when suddenly a voice called out making him jump. He thought the other will only watch him throughout his folding, and ahem, discrete stamping, but he guessed wrong.

"Need some help?" asked the mysterious voice.

Naruto looked left and right trying to make it seem he didn't know where the voice come from. He jumped quite realistically when a hand landed on his shoulder. He snapped his head up towards the intruder and found himself looking at the half dying man from a few days ago.

Naruto, for once, being utterly speechless flapped his lips like a fish and then shut them tight before scooting away quickly from the man.

"I didn't mean to scare you, I was just, uh, around and I saw you folding incidentally when I walked by, so, uh… hi?" he finished lamely, with an awkward smile.

Naruto just looked bogeyed at the man having thoughts run a mile per hour in his head. Is his cover blown, is this guy here to catch him in the act, etcetera, etcetera.

"I, uh, so do you need help? That's an awful lot to fold…" the man said looking over to the pile of clothing.

"I-I was given two days to complete them…" Naruto answered softly. "…it's my job so, I'll do it alone." He said firmly yet softly.

"Okay… can I, can I stay though?" he asked stuttering in words and shuffling his feet.

"D-don't you have your own job to do?" Naruto asked as he started folding the normal clothes and leaving the uniforms aside for stamping later.

"I, uh, I'm off for a few days more… medical leave." He explained shuffling his foot still.

"W-why do you want to stay here doing nothing?" the blonde asked as he pulled out a boxer from the pile and tossed it nonchalantly to an undergarments pile ignoring the other as he failed to bite down a choke.

"I wanted to thank you and return this to you…" said the man after composing himself. He had the small canteen of Naruto's in his hand and was handing it to the blonde with an outstretched hand.

"…your welcome." Naruto said taking the empty canteen as he found and placed it by his feet.

"C-c-c-c-ca-can I s-s-se-see-seeeee you again?" the man shouted out in a stutter.

_HUH?_ Naruto screamed in his head.

"I mean, can I, no uh, that's not it…" he stumbled in his words before taking a deep breath and saying calmly. "Will you let me court you?"

Naruto just stared at the man unblinking, making the other squirm. He sighed and lowered his gaze to his hands. "Do you even know my name?" he questioned softly.

The blonde felt the other tense and then said a hasty apology and then he was gone. When finally the other was long gone, Naruto sped through his stamping and folding and reported it to the team head and handed in his resignation before bolting and running towards the public bathroom and speeding away for home.

The next day, he heard rumors of a woman leaving fire country to escape an obsessed ANBU suitor and just shook his head at them and thought to himself proudly. _Laundry collection and seal application (batch 2) [DONE]!_

Naruto nodded to himself pleased at his accomplishments. Tearing the page of his note, he burned it along with the seal stamp he used with the invisible ink and watched the fire flicker feeling a bubbling laughter crawl up his chest.

Feeling foolish he let out a maniacal laugh that echoed in his now warded apartment, earning a sweatdrop from his clone.

_Tomorrow morning… _he thought to himself feeling giddy that he couldn't sleep a wink.

**.**

The sun rose from behind the horizon and Naruto snapped his eyes open sitting up from his laying position on the Hokage mountain. He sat there watching the sun rise slowly minute by minute feeling the adrenaline rush through his head.

As the sun's finally at full circle Naruto jumped down to the Hokage tower's rooftop and watched the sunrise until the third came. They shared a conspiring smile; the blonde handing off a seal paper trigger that once torn caused a domino effect inactivating the seals. Finished with his duty, Naruto turned and made his way home, he did have classes today.

**.**

Sandaime stood facing his ANBU that now had doubled from the addition from the ROOT division since Danzou has been usurped. He scrutinized them one by one. The whole batch has gone through the tests without problems, except that is the ROOT members only in one test, psychological test that is.

Sighing he rubbed at his eyes and scanned the crowd noting that the ANBU black OPS are mostly all grown men while as most ROOT members are early teens and children.

_This is going to take a while to fix…_ he thought grimly before breaking into a crinkling smile.

"Will all dorm tenants' please line up to my left and the rest to my right…" he instructed earning innocent confusion from the ROOT members and wariness question from the ANBUs. "Then will both platoons please face my left…" he further instructed tasting the confusion in the air but nevertheless just kept smiling as he did a small flick of the hand and had the small trigger seal torn down the middle.

The result was instantaneous, the non-dorm ANBUs broke out in hysterical laughter while as most ROOT just raise their eyebrows.

Some incoherent words filled the air. Such as 'how could I miss that?', 'how did that happen?', 'genius' and many more; while as the Hokage stood there shaking in laughter yet dare not break his regal leader mask and instead shook in disguised mirth silently watching half of his ANBU piss themselves in laughter in expense of the other half unknowingly wearing clothes sealed with a genjutsu visible only to non-dorm citizens.

The genjutsu of where only the front version of the clothes visible, of course this apply to the sleeves and crotch.

_Well at least he was nice enough to leave the undergarments alone… _the third thought, amused but then caught sight of Genma and face palmed.

"Shiranui! ANBU uniform code **includes **undergarments!" he bellowed out to a now sputtering Genma confused on how he was found out.

**.**

Lunch bell rang throughout the school and students scurried out of their seats to eat with their friends while as others remained seated and ate their lunches quietly. Everyone savored their lunch and chatted with each other, everyone except one sleeping Uzumaki Naruto.

When the adrenaline finally burned out, the blonde finds himself succumbing to sleep willingly and slept through the day lectures not even waking from Iruka's booming voice. He simply slept and savored the five hours of peaceful sleep. At the last minute of the lunch Naruto woke with a big yawn and jumped when the shrill ring of the bell rang through the school. Blinking, the blonde looked up at the wall clock behind them and gaped at it.

_What happened to lunch…?_ He wondered. **You slept through it kit…**

_And why, pray tell, did you not wake me up? _The blonde gritted out to the fox.

**I tried…** the fox said lamely.

_How many times…? _Naruto accused.

**Hn… **was the intelligible answer.

Growling at the fox, Naruto whined to himself feeling his stomach gurgle.

**.**

Afternoon lessons passed by in a breeze. Bouncing up from his seat he gathered his things, a notebook, a mechanical pencil and eraser. Swiftly tucking them into the auto-seal he installed in his jacket last night he walked towards the exit and noticed the raven haired bastard.

_Well, 'just turned bastard' I guess… _he corrected then weighed his options, food or talking.

Shrugging, the blonde walked up to the still organizing boy. "Hey, wanna grab dinner together?" he asked politely.

"No…" the boy answered shouldering his bag and moving towards the door.

"Why not…? It's not like you have anyone waiting at home…" he said off handedly waiting for the hit to come; and it did, _hard_.

"Asshole!" the raven bellowed pulling his fist for another punch.

"It's not like you're the only one who lost anyone you know…" the blonde retorted bringing up his arms to shield his face. "Yeah so I don't get how you feel…" he murmured.

_Like hell I don't… _he thought fighting back tears.

"But it's not like you're the only one who ever have had something bad happen in their lives you know…" he continued looking at the other between his arms. "If you don't like other people looking at you like some pity case then stop acting like it!" Naruto bellowed pulling back his fist before landing a hit on the other's face reveling at the slight crunch he felt against his fist.

Releasing a deep breath Naruto turned to leave. "See you tomorrow Sasuke-teme…" he called as he walked off leaving a contemplating raven behind nursing his bloody nose.

**.**

Naruto snickered to himself as he treads the stairs to his apartment reliving his visit to the stores with a henge.

_Why didn't I think of it before?_ He thought shuffling his numerous purchases that will last him a week. **You were a bit dim back then kit, well you're still dim but I guess you improved a lot since then… **Kurama commented earning a mental growl from his host.

_Whatever…_ Naruto dismissed and trudged the last few steps before turning to his door with a grin, Naruto shuffled his bags to his left hand as he procured his key and de-activated the traps on the door and hallway with a push of his chakra to the key to the lock and the seals.

He welcomed the deadly hum of chakra as the seals moved to accommodate him. He slid inside and shut the door with his foot feeling the chakra hum again when the door locked itself and activated the wards and traps.

"I'm home!" he called into the house.

"**Welcome back…"** the clone said flatly reaching out a hand to help him with the bags.

Swiftly, they both had the purchases put away then Naruto turned to the clone and held out a palm. The clone placed a hand on it and closed its eyes. Naruto pushed chakra onto the clone hearing it sigh then hum.

"Report?" asked Naruto as he turned towards the kitchen to prepare some food.

"**There have been several attempts at breaking in, thirteen in total… one attempt had rendered an ANBU half-dead and thus had made the other attempts wary…"** said the clone.

"I need to talk to the old man about these break-ins soon, remind me to do so tomorrow…" the blonde said as he washed the rice.

"**Of course."** Affirmed the clone.

**.**

Tomorrow came in the form of shrill alarm and the blonde tossing a kunai right in the middle of it.

Slowly, Naruto greeted the day with a snarl at the sunlight that came through the parting of his curtain. Then he proceeded on giving it the finger and cussing his way through his morning bathroom ceremonies.

Naruto may be all rainbows and sunshine throughout the day but only a few knew of his being bad with mornings. He finds it a bother to wake up with the _'cheery fucking sun who thinks it's perfectly alright to start the day without me saying so'_ as he calls it.

Though after a good shower, which he now had a heating seal carved onto the plumbs, and a good few minutes of freshening up and his greeting the toilet properly, he's ready to face the day with a smile brighter than yesterday.

He finished breakfast and was packing up his stuff for school when his clone spoke.

"**I'm to remind you of going to the third to talk about the break-ins…" **it said flatly while as Naruto pounded his fist on his palm in remembrance.

"Thanks for reminding me! I'll be off now! Take care of the house while I'm gone okay!" he said in haste and then he out the door.

"**Have a safe trip…" **the clone said with a small tilt of a smile and went off to do his duties.

**.**

"Rise and shine! Old ma~~~n!" the blonde sang out as he intruded through the windows of the third's room in his own residence.

The room was silent and Naruto opened his eyes and promptly shut them and staged gagged before falling off the window ledge.

"I so didn't want to see that! Ugh wrinkly sex! Gah!" he writhed on the ground contemplating on clawing his eyes out and washing it with soap to get the image out but then thought, it'd already in his head; so then he contemplated on washing his brain with soap instead.

"Naruto! Quit your yapping and get in here, if you wanted to talk!" the old man bellowed from his front door, now dressed properly yet still had a tinge of pink splashed across his cheeks which the blonde didn't fail to point out.

"UGH! Get out of the frisky mood old man! I'm here for serious business I don't want to recall that shit!" the blonde shouted in repulsion before sliding passed the old man and settling himself on a couch.

"It's called embarrassment Naruto…" the man sighed before taking his place across from the blonde. "Now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about that it couldn't wait till later in my office?"

"Any beverage the two of you want?" Sarutobi-okusan asked all prim and proper as if the blonde hadn't just caught her getting nailed to her bed by her husband. Well it just shows who initiated the bed session earlier.

"Tea…" her husband answered simply, giving her a brief smile.

"Hot chocolate please! My hands are frozen from running all the way here!" Naruto said with a big grin before turning back to the old man.

"Did you know about several ANBU level ninjas trying to break into my apartment? Three having succeeded and one almost dying in a later attempt?" Naruto asked as he leaned back on the couch with a sigh feeling contented at the heat the room exudes.

"Yes." The man said simply, taking his wife softly for the offered drink before taking a brief sip of his tea. "Some of the ANBU I sent to watch over you in discretion had reported back the first three break-ins…" he sipped some more tea. "I had instructed them to subdue them the next time they did so but was reported instead of a lethal trap almost killing an operative…" he said with a nonchalant sip. "Mind telling me how'd that happen?"

"Here you are Naru-chan…" Sarutobi-okusan said softly with a smile before disappearing back into the kitchen while Naruto called out in thanks.

"Mmmm~" Naruto hummed in appreciation at the smell of his chocolate and took a small sip. "There were break-ins; I had to put up defenses to stop it from happening again?" Naruto answered in a question, daring the other to say it was a bad decision.

"I didn't say you did anything wrong…" the old man said after a sip of tea. "I'm just wondering where you learnt creating traps and wards to keep out, much more to almost kill **ANBUs**…" he finished his speech with a long sip from his now cooling tea.

Naruto shrugged sipping more of his drink, uncaring of the fact that he's burning his tongue with the scalding liquid. "I can't die _now _old man… maybe a few years after seventy or maybe pushing eighty, but definitely not now…"

"You're not gonna tell me are you?" the third sighed out before placing his empty cup onto its coaster on the low table between them.

Again the blonde shrugged and finished his own drink. "So~ are they coming back?" he asked, standing up.

The man sighed and leaned against his seat absently thanking his wife for the refill of the tea. "No, they've been dealt with…" he said simply which the blonde grinned at.

"You're not gonna tell me why they sniffed around my house are you?" he said brightly.

"No." the man said in a fond huff.

"Fair's fair, that's all I needed to know right now anyways… see ya around Jiji, later baba!" he shouted after to the wife barely dodging a small peeling knife on his way out laughing.

"Kakashi…"the man whispered to the room.

"Yes…?" was the whispered response.

"Keep on watching over him for me…" the third said softly, leaning further in his chair. "…I will never forgive myself if anything happened to that boy…" he whispered to himself as the younger man already left silent as he came.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Itadaki** – an expression that roughly means 'I'll gladly take it'

**A/N: Ha… Ha… Ha… mah~ NO H8?**


	3. At twelve years young

The moon shone down brightly in its full face down the village creating an eerie peaceful silence through its sleep; though a few, awake souls littered the night, making sure that this peace would not be broken.

One of them, being the blonde haired knuckle headed ninja. He stood over the village on top of its mountain heads looking out into the night as he let his chakra churn under his belly.

_This is such a pain in the ass…_ thought the newly turned eight year old as he stood still, hand poised in a ram sign as he churn more and more chakra underneath his skin.

_ARGH! I wish I had some frog oil from the old toads up at Myouboku Mountain… _the blonde whined as he trained his body to mix and adapt to the foreign chakra.

**Kit, we've no way of finding where the damn mountain is… **reminded the ever helpful tenant. **Besides, one step foot out the gates and we have a whole party of killers after our tail… **he said with a yawn settling more comfortably in his cage.

_Tails… _Naruto murmured absently, pulling more chakra from the earth into his body.

**Huh? **The fox asked sleepily.

_I said tails, we have nine you big red fur ball… and why are you sleeping? _Naruto gritted out as finally he managed to create enough chakra to his satisfaction absently hearing the fox grunt nonchalantly at him.

Slowly, the blonde opened his orange lined eyes revealing the eyes of a toad covering his usual sky blues. He formed the seal for his most famous jutsu and two identical blondes stood before him.

He eyed them with now his normal eyes before smiling. "I am sure you know what your missions are…" he said looking up at the two much older blondes who both shared pairs of eyes lined with orange and eyes of gold as they nodded.

"You are not to reveal who you are to anyone but the targets… conceal yourself as to not be linked back to me… relay messages as often as once a week… if you were to get caught then make sure nothing remains that can be traced back to me… and lastly do not involve yourselves unnecessarily with anyone…" he instructed and smiled pleased when the clones nodded in understanding.

"Now, lift up your shirts." Naruto instructed as the two followed.

He surveyed the grown chest of his clones, exactly as how he remembered himself as a fifteen year old and asked them to stoop down to his eight year old self. Both had done so as the blonde pulled out a brush and a cup of ink.

Dipping the brush onto the ink he then drew a seal onto each of the chests of the clones, both identical to the other. Finished, he packed up his utensils and asked the two blondes to stand. With a quick flick of his wrist, the seals activated with a brief glow before dissolving into the tan skin.

"This seal will fortify your form and allow you to draw in the natural chakra of the earth and use it as your own… never forget our goal and never falter, send me your memories in raw, do not concern yourselves in needing to protect me… run safely under the shadows my selves…" he said. The two nodded in assent and in a gust of wind, the two were gone.

"And now we wait to see how the seeds grow." Naruto murmured into the wind before disappearing in a swirl of leaves just before the patrol came and surveyed the area.

**.**

The morning started out a little differently than normal to the usually hyperactive blonde seeing as it was a day he have dreaded for a few days now.

_Wha- me? Dreadful? Ha! As if! There is nothing, I repeat, nothing in this world that could put the great ORE in a dreadful mood!_

Or so he says to his shaking self as he looked down onto the paper on his desk; quietly laughing maniacally to him-self as he tried to process the first word on the paper.

_Na-me… okay, so what does that mean… name? Oh, right 'Na-ru-to U-zu-ma-ki'…_ He wrote in a flowing script before moving on, giving the clock a glance every other second.

**I've a pretty good idea on why you fail these exams…** Kurama spoke up suddenly in amusement, startling the blonde into a quiet yelp earning a small glance from their exam proctor.

_Don't do that!_ The blonde yelled to the fox in his mind as he makes sense of the next word. _Date… what is the date today anyways…_

**Listen... **the fox growled while the blonde thought of the date of the day all the while sweating bullets of cold sweat.** …you've a problem with time limits… you sit there and dread that you won't have **_**time**_** to answer everything and in the end you panic so much, you **_**didn't **_**get to answer **_**anything**_**… so try and just read and answer them, don't mind the time that bastard gave you…**

_Huh? Bastard? What does Sasuke have to do with the test? _Naruto wondered absently as finally he recalled the day's date and wrote it down in the same flowing script as his name.

**The white haired bastard standing at the teacher's podium kit, need me to rearrange a few screw in here to help ya out? **The fox said with a deadpan, already used to this side of his host when tests were mentioned.

_Ah~ Mizuki… I've already planned something for him… no worries this time round… _Naruto said, thoughts no longer hindered by pressure as he swiftly answered his test, skipping some that the knuckle head 'Naruto' deemed difficult to keep up a façade. _…this time, I'll make sure it ends._ Naruto said, eyes stealing at the memory of Iruka's waning smile as he shielded him from danger.

"Times up!" The said man snapped over to the room that immediately erupted into groans and protests of not being finished. "Come now! Pass them over!"

_Yes, this time, I'll make sure it ends __**properly**__… _Naruto said tucking his pens in his jacket and passing the paper to the aisle to be brought to front.

After gathering the stack from the two aisles, the silver haired man dismissed them with a smile before leaving the room first to finish his duties to his own class sighing all the way how graduation exams are too much of a trouble.

**.**

Naruto's class was the last to arrive at the second test venue, the outdoors target class field. The task was simple enough, hit more than half the targets in the bull's eye and you pass. They were allowed to use as many stars as they need so long as ten of them managed to hit the targets, even if not in the bull's eye to consider the set 'done'. There were twenty targets divided into two sets. One set is set up with uniform targets and the other with motion targets.

Everyone had gotten above the half of both sets, passing through the second test easily. And now it was Naruto and Sasuke's turn where the blonde in the uniform targets and the raven to the motion ones.

The signal was given and Sasuke flew into a blur of movements while Naruto threw at a more leisurely pace, since his targets aren't going anywhere anyways.

Or so he thought.

When the weight of the stares became too irritating, seeing as his partner, the 'great' Uchiha has finished his set, and the whole class and the instructor were only waiting on him finishing. Naruto tossed the last five stars in his hand and watched as the five targets moved subtly enough that those without sharp eyes wouldn't see.

Swiftly, with a dead look, Naruto took one more shuriken from the provided box and threw it in an arc _hard_. The lone, star glanced off the five previously thrown stars and embedded itself onto a tree trunk deeply as the other five found their targets uneventfully.

The blonde didn't bother to look at the examiner. He already knew that it was the man who moved the targets. He just went to the targets and retrieved the stars leisurely before placing them back in the provided shuriken box.

The class was murmuring to themselves at the sudden solemn blonde who didn't even cheer at his perfect ten. The examiner glanced around and locked gazes with the Uchiha who stared him down as if disappointed in him making him bristle, indignant.

He straightened and promptly ignored the raven child before clearing his throat, catching the class's attention. "Excellent reflexes you two, now switch target sets please…" he said and watched as the two went to their places clenching and unclenching his hands in nervousness. He knows the blonde could do nothing to him but if the Uchiha brat said something, then he'd surely be out of the job, maybe even stripped of his shinobi title.

Naruto only gave the man a fleeting glance as he passed by him. He stared up at him, eyes narrowing as their gazes met. A brief flash of red to his blue eyes was all it took for the man to step back a few paces and signaled them to begin when in position.

The Uchiha swiftly finished his set as per usual and looked to the blonde that had fascinated him throughout the years. Ever since their exchange of fists one afterschool afternoon, he had his eyes betray him and follow the shock of sunshine gold whenever it's in sight.

He saw the blonde with irritation and disgust at first, but then as his eyes betrayed him one time too many, he started to see. He started to see the small black bags under the boy's eyes and his somewhat dimmed smile and eyes after an all-night grueling training. He saw the small patched up holes on the other's shirt that the blonde sewed on almost inconspicuously. He saw the tattered clothes that fit far too small that were exchanged with too big used ones. He saw something haunting behind those eyes when they stared into space at class.

His intrigue grew as he watched closer, looked harder for things the blonde kept a hard secret. His intrigue grew into an excuse to hide his empathy, as he saw someone very much like himself. Even if his dark brooding aura seem worlds opposite to Naruto's brighter than normal smile it still had the same effect intended; self-isolation.

The blonde was hiding something as he was. He didn't know if it's the same sadness he held, but it somehow drew him to the blonde. He can't help wanting to know if he'd find a friend in him.

And still so now, he watched on, waiting for the spectacular result of the blonde's endless practices with the academy throwing post.

The blonde stood there just watching the moving targets. They moved fast till blurring, but the motion too slow for his enhanced eyes to even be called a challenge. He tossed his ammos one by one, feeling a weird feeling settle in his heart as a thud was heard and he saw the star embedded in the middle of the target. Finally, after the final star reached its target, the blonde turned to the now sweating examiner and gave a big beaming smile.

"G-great job, both of you got a flawless twenty…" the man commented, voice shaking. "…y-you can all proceed to your homeroom for your last and final test… dismissed!" their examiner stuttered out, voice cracking at the end earning a few chuckles from the already dispersing class.

The blonde only smiled at the man happily before walking passed him with a bounce in his step. "Good thing I didn't _slip_, it would be bad if I hit _anyone_… naa~ sensei?" Naruto sing songed as he passed, throwing a look back at the man who had his back towards them before skipping all the way to homeroom happy that finally he passed the exams.

**When have you become evil? **The fox said disbelievingly with a lilt of pride in his voice.

_I have no idea what you're talking about… I'm too happy to be evil…_ the blonde replied in a sing song.

**Hn… **Kurama grunted having known that trying to squeeze banter out of the blonde in his current state is impossible.

The blonde walked on, not noticing the raven Uchiha stopping to get a word with their examiner. "Try and use chakra strings next time… _sensei_…" the raven murmured as he passed the man, calling his honorific in sarcasm.

**.**

"Congratulations class! You all graduate!" Iruka beamed at his class. This is the first time in a while that a class under his advisory having had every student passes the graduation examinations.

His eyes travelled over his best class yet then paused as he spotted his favorite blonde, lips stretching further in a big grin. "Especially you Naruto! You got a 55 in the written test, not to be bragged about but still you passed!" Iruka said enthusiastically giving the blonde glittering happy eyes with a thousand watt smile.

"Uh, thanks…" the blonde muttered and tucked his face in his jacket collar hiding his cherry pink cheeks. _I should've aced that test instead… that was so embarrassing… _Naruto thought to himself while his beast snickered at his dilemma.

Iruka's smile twitched a bit at the quiet response before clearing his throat. "Anyways…" the brunette said in an awkward drawl sensing the blonde's embarrassment.

"You're all certified ninjas! Though, let's not get excited yet, this next exam is just as important as the first two were, you need not pass this, but I recommend you try to. A ninja who doesn't know how to utilize ninjutsu is a great liability on the field… I don't want any of you dying just because you forgot how to do a kawarimi to save your life…" he said with a dead look to the class. Some looked sheepish while some rolled their eyes in arrogance.

"Now, when I call your name come to the next room to perform the bunshin technique." Iruka said bringing out his clip board and calling off names one by one.

A long while passed. Most students were able to conjure three, some five or more and some, those with less chakra, one or two. It was interesting to watch as the shape varied and some look absolutely nothing like their owner. But everyone's clones are all standing and moving and useful, so still, they passed. And now finally it came to the last two boys in the class.

The Uchiha came first and did it swiftly, hands tucked in his pockets, looking every bit of a brooding cool kid that he is, and then went back to their room and climbed to his seat sneaking a glance over the blonde who looked as if his heart was in his throat when his name was called.

"Uzumaki Naruto, come to the room next door…" Iruka called to the blonde with a gentle smile.

Naruto trudged down and pleaded with the brunette with his eyes.

"Come on then…" Iruka said gesturing him to follow.

"I can't do normal bunshin…" the blonde muttered softly making Iruka chuckle softly, indulgently as he slid the door open and moved inside, settling himself onto a seat beside the silver haired bastard.

"Then do a 'not normal' bunshin then…" Iruka said in an encouraging tone as he urged Naruto to come in further.

Naruto grunted and muttered. "Don't freak out and say I didn't warn you…" moving further in the room stopping in the middle and attempting to screw up a clone.

A cloud of smoke popped and a clone emerged, a very vegetable looking clone. Naruto looked at it and breathed a sigh of relief and immediately got an earful for it.

"WHAT ARE YOU SIGHING IN RELIEF FOR? THAT IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE BUNSHIN!" Iruka bellowed from the deepest breath he ever took.

Naruto looked at the man and felt the same dread he did a whole lifetime ago from the same moment but froze when suddenly he remembers.

"In any case you, since you still p-"

"I can do better!" Naruto cut him off.

_Fuck I forgot, I needed to fail! Shit._

"What are you-"

"One more chance! Just one more chance! Please!" the blonde begged, desperate.

"Iruka-sensei, he did create a clone anyhow, so why not just pass him still…" the silver haired man said smiling gently at his colleague.

"But he-"

"Please! Let me just try the jutsu again!"

The brunette sighed and massaged his temple. "Naruto, you only get one shot at this test, so no-"

"NO!" Naruto shouted and ran outside jumping through roofs, hoping that somehow, the silver haired man would still take the bait.

"Naruto!" Iruka called out, but the blonde was too far already. He sighed again and collapsed on his chair. "What is wrong with, him…?" the brunette wondered since the blonde still passed even if he failed this one.

"Worry not, Iruka, he'll come around…" Mizuki said, already packing up his things and slipping out the room with a sinister smirk on his face.

_I've got you now Uzumaki Naruto…_ he thought giddily as he immediately took off towards where the blonde ran off.

Iruka in the meanwhile massaged his brows and heaved an exhausted sigh before looking up and promptly jumping up from his chair and almost clinging to the green board behind him. He placed a hand to his heaving chest as he continued to eye the vegetable-like clone of Naruto walk over to him, well more like crawl over, and draped itself on the desk. Its lips were moving, but no sound was coming out.

"Iruka, are you finished with the- **what the fuck is that!**"

"Language, Azuma-sensei." The brunette reprimanded the bearded man with a stern look. "And this is Naruto's clone; it seems to be saying something…" Iruka said as he tries to make sense of what the clone is saying.

"'Come follow me, sensei… and do so discreetly… the situation will explain itself when you come'…" Azuma recited as he read the clone's lips before looking over to the brunette who looked peeved. "I'll tell the sub-teacher to handle your kids… I'm coming with…" the bearded man said looking towards the clone that nodded and popped out of existence.

**.**

"Ya… so this is where you were…"

Naruto straightened peering over his shoulder to see just the man he wants to see.

"Mizuki-sensei…" Naruto called before looking over the horizon. "What do you want?" he said, conjuring up a slightly shaking voice for some effect.

"You know, Iruka-sensei isn't trying to be mean…" the man started.

**.**

The two men listened from just around the corner and exchange a confused look at the harmless nature of the conversation.

"Then why is he always singling me out?" Naruto said with a pout in his voice.

"Because he wanted you to grow strong not only in a single sense… he watches over you because he feels you're both the same, having grew up without your parents…" Mizuki said observing the skies instead of the boy who watched him from the corner of his blue eyes.

"B-but I wanted to graduate…" Naruto said, the words still clear from his memory as he spoke them.

Again, the two eavesdroppers shared a look of confusion, this time at the blonde's words, seeing as the blonde actually is a graduate.

"Well, it can't be helped then…" Mizuki said with a laugh to his voice. "…I'll tell you a big secret, for you to pass the exams…" he said with a kind smile.

He spoke then, lips moving as his words were carried off by the wind. He spilled a very big secret indeed that had the brunette and his company's eyes widening at every word he said.

"I see…" the blonde said with a smile, closing his eyes in relief. "…did you hear everything, Iruka-sensei, Azuma-sensei?" the blonde asked to the wind as he looked up into the setting sun.

"Uh, yeah actually…" the bearded man stepped out from the shadows scratching at his beard, making the silver haired man swiftly climbing up to his feet.

"Mizuki, you… why?" Iruka said, a bit overwhelmed at the progress of how things gone.

"Tch." The silver haired man clicked his tongue and dove off into the roofs running faster away from the three.

"I'll follow him, Iruka, you report this to the Hokage!" said the ever swift Azuma who disappeared towards the direction Mizuki had gone off to.

"Right!" Iruka nodded and went to the direction of the tower.

Naruto just stood there and watched the sun set. _Perfect…_ he thought before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

**.**

"Dispatch all the Chuunin available to pursue Mizuki!" the old third Hokage commanded the brunette Iruka after the briefing the young man had made.

The brunette was gone in a flash with a salute to do as he was told.

"I want three black ops informed and have them on standby just in case…" the old man murmured under his breath and a shadow moved in the room before completely fading.

The old man sighed and took a deep drag from his smoke and held it in longer.

"Can I go too?" asked a voice in the empty room that made the old man cough violently in surprise.

"W-what?" the man looked upon his visitor to find the blonde boy sitting onto the window sill of an opened window with his legs dangling outside.

"Can I go too, to find Mizuki?" Naruto repeated and looked at the third with an inquiring look.

"You're not officially in the ranking book yet Naruto, I can't set you out to such a dangerous mission…" the third said finding his composure quickly and frowning at the blonde who looked out into the crimson skies swinging his legs back and forth outside the sill.

"I need you to tell me to go…" Naruto murmured into the wind.

"Why?"

"…because I need to kill that man."

The words brought the third's eyes to widen. "Whatever did he do to you?" was all the man could say as everything else was stuck in his throat as the blonde looked at him over his small shoulders, eyes a glowing bloody red.

The wind blew and for a few moments, everything was still. "Naruto?" the man called, making sure that he is speaking with the boy.

"Give the order, Hokage-sama, and I'll bring his head to you." The blonde said quietly.

"We need him alive, Naruto…" the man said finally after searching for his voice.

"Then it's fine if he is missing a few parts?" Naruto said sweetly, eyes narrowing as he smiled sweet.

"Yes…"

"Then… can I go too?"

"Alright..."

And then the blonde was gone from his perch and the wind blew inside, shuffling a few papers from their stack.

"Shall I go with him?" murmured a low voice from the shadows.

The third took a deep breath and leaned against his chair. "No need…" _I've a feeling anyone else would just be a bother… _the man thought, refreshing the pinch of tobacco in his pipe and lighting it.

"…"

**.**

Mizuki quickly disabled the traps and wards surrounding the room and pulled the lever down. The door opened with a groan and he released a triumphant sigh.

"Konbanwa sensei…" called someone from the inside.

"Y-you! What are you doing here?" the man said as he advanced towards the child with a kunai in hand.

"I came to kill you sensei…" said the same voice from behind him and suddenly the door was shut and the traps all activated yet again. They were now locked in the room alone.

"A child like you I could do in in just a second!" the man bellowed and charged at the boy only to come up short when he felt a dozen hands gripping him still.

He looked down and they were hands, grotesque hands that curled around him and grabbed, pulled at his body as their mangled heads moaned in his face.

"Do you like it sensei?" asked the blonde making the man look up and gasp. The boy was sitting in a throne of bones, lounging on it leisurely as he watched his sensei get grabbed on by otherworldly beings.

"Imagination is such a wonderful thing isn't it? This here you see is a world of fear and suffering that I had in my mind ever since a young child. I created it unconsciously as the hatred of other people warped my thoughts as such…" he explained with a smile picking up a skull and twirling it around like a ball.

"It's so ugly isn't it sensei… these people here, their just like you… hungry for power, afraid of those they cannot subdue, loathing of people that took what's _theirs_…" he said with a short bark of laughter.

"So selfish, humans are… yet no matter what we do, that's never gonna change… but still I think there's still hope." The blonde said, eyes shining as he looked at Mizuki in the eyes. "There is still a chance for there to be peace, for people to understand each other and accept their difference, to set aside the hatred for a better tomorrow! I just know it!" Naruto said brightly before his smile turned warped and sinister.

"Pity you don't get to see it…" he said sweetly as everything goes black and the man's scream echoed off through the walls of the room.

**.**

"Is he fit for interrogation?" the Hokage asked as he turned from his crystal ball and faced the blonde boy dragging a bleeding Mizuki who happens to be missing a leg and an arm.

"I guess." Naruto shrugged tossing the man in front of the old man's desk cringing slightly at the sound of blood splattering. "That will never be a pleasant noise to get used to." He muttered which the old man grunted in agreement. "You do know that he has a contact lurking inside the walls don't you?" asked the blonde as he slid a window open and settled himself onto its sill.

"Hmmm, yes… but we wouldn't be able to move until we get a name and visual on him from Mizuki…" the old man said leaning back onto his chair and puffing out tendrils of smoke from his pipe.

"Hmmm, I tried… I got nothing; the man was wearing a mask, he varies his height and forms each meeting, making it impossible to get a profile on him…" Naruto hummed, swinging his legs alternately as he eyed the moon in the sky.

The third watched the child that had brought more mystery to him as the years passed. He knows of something, dangerous knowledge as the blonde told him a few months ago. But he knows that the blonde is true to his feelings. He is not lost, he knows where he's heading and is taking measured steps as he walked. The old man has inkling on what the blonde knows but he kept mum, for he has a feeling that whatever Naruto's fighting for is something greater than he could ever imagine.

The man took in the visage of the boy. So small was he that a few girls from his generation outgrew him even; his frame so thin that have him seeming as a girl underneath his clothing; his smile and personality so bright yet dark at the same time that it shows just how much human he seems.

_He is a spitting image of you Minato, Kushina, in appearance, heart and soul…_ the third thought in melancholy fondness.

"Though, if you'd take my word credibly even without any evidence to support it, I have a person in mind that is entangled in this case's webs…" Naruto spoke, hopping back inside the room and sliding the window shut. He walked inside and stopped beside the desk of the man's right side.

Nodding, the third motioned and two shadows slid from the wall and materialized. They heaved the silver haired man to his feet and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

The room was silent save for the sounds of the night when suddenly it plummet into a deafening silence as the third put up silencing wards around the room.

"The man's name is Yakushi Kabuto, simple tactics on apprehending him won't work… but it wouldn't hurt in putting him under surveillance… only the best can go undetected with him, be careful on choosing who to send… he's bait we can't afford to lose, he's the only bug directly connected in line with Orochimaru after all…" Naruto finished and expected the wide eyed expression the old man gave him.

"Be very careful alright?" Naruto said lastly before disappearing in a puff of smoke revealing him to only be a clone.

**.**

"Alright, everything's in order…" the third smiled at the bored blonde in front of him. "…welcome to the ninja family Naruto." He congratulated with a smile which the blonde returned with a blank look. "What is it? You don't seem very happy about being instated as a ninja…" the man said in an amused voice that the blonde immediately picked up on and scowled at the elder.

"Well I could've been a ninja _three_ hours earlier if you weren't such a picky old coot!" the blonde exclaimed pointing a finger at the old man who only smirked as he cried the injustice.

"Well~" the man trailed, caressing his beard with an amused smirk on his face. "…you _could_ have, if you listened to what you were told the first time." He said to the infuriated blonde who huffed and crossed his arms in defense.

"Your way of taking pictures are boring!" Naruto refuted in a huff, cheeks puffed out.

"Naruto-" the man cut offed when the boy continued in a bored and mocking voice.

"'…your ninja profile is an important piece of document that displays professionalism and of course is your sale brochure to acquire higher ranked missions as you rise up the ranks… you don't want to look foolish in the eyes of the clients don't you?'" the blonde finished along with a mocking caress to his bare chin in parody of the old man's habit while talking. "Yeah, yeah, yeah! I heard it all before! So okay, sorry, won't happen again, will do better next time I get my pic taken, blah, blah, blah~ can I go now?" Naruto asked pointing at the door with his thumb with a bored expression.

"This time, I'll get you for sure!" shouted a small voice from the gap of the door before a small child of maybe around six shut out and ran for the old man with a shuriken held in his hand. He ran for his prize, eyes only on his target when suddenly his face met the floor.

There was silence in the room while the two men and one teen tried to process what had just happened.

_Was it today that I met with Konohamaru…?_ The blonde ninja thought, eyes narrowing as he took in the scene more closely; then snorted.

"A trap he said…" Naruto muttered under his breath. _Oh god, it seemed so much hilarious now than then, WHY?_ Naruto thought furiously holding his breath as the anticipated Jounin came sliding in a flurry.

"Hehe, are you like a new comedy duo or something?" Naruto asked, voice breaking into a snort when Konohamaru almost tripped again on his own long-ass scarf.

"What did you say you bastard?" the kid bellowed into the blonde's face who immediately felt his funny bone withers and a tick appear on his forehead.

"The fuck are you calling a bastard huh brat?" Naruto shouted into the kid's face as he grabbed him by the collar.

"What do you think you're doing? This person is the third's grandson! Show some respect!" Ebisu shrieked, yes shrieked, because that cannot be called manly shouting.

The blonde peered down on the smug looking kid and felt his temper rise.

"That's right! Know your betters!" the kid just had to douse gas into the flame.

"The hell I care!" Naruto shouted at the boy's face before giving him a nice hit on the noggin. He dragged the boy over to the gaping Jounin and dropped him in his arms before walking off with a scowl on his lips.

**.**

"That took hours, now I'm hungry… hmm I'm feeling green today, I'm gonna have some vegie stir-fry." Naruto thought aloud as he felt the boy trailing him from behind.

Naruto looked back wondering if this time around the kid did something creative but again found the same pathetic attempt to blend with the road as a rock, or maybe as the road itself. Naruto didn't even know.

The second attempt was a tad bit of an improvement from the horizontal to vertical stripes last lifetime. At least this time the boy thought to match the stripes, though fell short when the cloak sagged to the floor around his sandaled feet and how his hands peek out from the top as he held the cloth up.

"Really? What kind of shadowing is this…?" Naruto wondered aloud to himself before crossing his arms and staring at the wobbling arms that tired at keeping up the heavy cloth. The blonde just kept staring and staring until the boy peeked to make sure he hadn't lost his trail only to lock eyes with Naruto. "Tired yet?"

"As expected of someone I picked…" the boy said with a little huff as he let the cloth fall to the ground.

"Really kid, I've no time to play with you…" Naruto began when the kid went up to him and suddenly bellowed.

"I wouldn't mind being your underling!" the boy exclaimed in pride.

"Huh?" the blonde seemed stumped the second time in a new lifetime at the kid's logic, it never ceases to surprise him of what idiocy Konohamaru would cook up for him. Though really, it's like the pot calling the kettle black. He still remembers plenty of idiotic stunts he pulled as a kid.

Shaking his head, he straightened and looked down onto the clear admiration the kid has in his eyes and sighed. "Whatever, I'll listen to your story at my place…" he shrugged and kept on walking. "Come on! I'm hungry then after, I have training, so stop wasting my time!" he called to the stalk still boy who jumped into motion at his call.

**.**

"So, you want to win against the old man and be Hokage and you think that I can help you do it?" the blonde asked as he spooned another helping of stir-fry onto his plate and chucked a spoonful in his mouth.

"Yeah, I mean, you're the only one who talks to him like that and gets away with it… I mean even uncle Azuma can't talk to him like that, and he's his son!" Konohamaru exclaimed as he ate his still first serving of the food.

"Okay first of all, I talk like that normally; second, Azuma-sensei is awkward with the old man, because he never grew up with him around… he is the Hokage after all." Naruto replied, finishing his second helping and spooning the last of the stir-fry onto his plate and munching on again.

"So are you saying you can't do it?" the kid exclaimed pointing a half-full spoon at the blonde, almost spattering him with the food les the blonde didn't shielded himself with the empty serving bowl and catching the stray ammo.

"Nope, I can't." Naruto admitted nonchalantly before continuing to eat. "I'm not in that level yet." He added after finishing his food and drinking the juice he had poured them earlier. "Sneak attacks aren't something a strong person needs to do… If you want to be acknowledged as strong then you'd have to have the courage to get up in front of the old man and challenge him one on one, man to man…" he said to the boy, looking straight at him in the eye before moving to stand with the serving bowl and his and the boy's empty plates in hand to wash them.

"What do you know? Acting all tough and lecturing me!" the boy accused pushing off his seat, crossing his arms in retaliation.

"I'm not lecturing you because that's what I believe in. I'm aiming to be Hokage someday like you are. But getting there isn't gonna be easy. There aren't any short cuts to get there." Naruto said locking eyes with the boy who looked awed for a moment before turning his back to the blonde.

"You're not my boss anymore!" Konohamaru bellowed before looking back to Naruto with a determined look. "Because now, we're rivals!" he said with eyes sparking with challenge.

"Yeah…" Naruto smiled at the nostalgic word before shrugging slightly. "…sorry though Konohamaru, because starting tomorrow, I'm a certified ninja… but that doesn't mean that I won't wait for you for that challenge someday…" he said with a smile, reaching out his fist to the boy. "One on one…" he assured grinning.

"Man to man…" the kid continued with a mirrored grin on his face as he bumped fists with the blonde.

Ebisu smiled, as he listened in from the balcony and thought that maybe, this blonde boy wasn't all what they all thought him to be.

"AH! There you are young master!" the previously hidden Ebisu, 'dropped in coincidentally'. "It's almost time for lunch and your mother specifically told me to get you home early! What's this? You've eaten already?" the man nagged with his shrill voice while as the boy just rolled his eyes at his guardian.

"See ya later Naruto-niichan!" he bid farewell before allowing his guardian to take him away.

"Yeah, later!" Naruto waved with a big grin as he watched them jump out of sight before letting his grin drop.

Slowly he lifted his hand up out of the window and allowed a single orange butterfly flutter onto his finger and pulling it back inside. He shut the window he left purposely opened for the ebony haired man and reactivated all the wards and traps in place before addressing the insect that puffed out of existence allowing the memories of his clone to flood into him.

"Almost… but not yet, not quite…" he murmured quietly as he gathered natural chakra and molded his messengers. With his message set he set the birds off into the skies as he gone out to train making sure no one saw him did so.

**.**

Once in the skies, the birds morphed into bigger, faster birds that sliced through the clouds as they searched for their destination and recipient. They split quickly and dove away from the other.

Days went by and they flew without the rest it didn't need. Stopping, when sometimes a notable presence here and there are within their programmed parameter before taking off into the skies again and finally finding their target.

**.**

One messenger bird slowed and morphed into a small orange butterfly fluttering down onto the fingers of a ruggedly dressed man, with face hidden by a tangle of cloths and straps as well as his head.

"So? You got any new info?" said a man whom was two, almost three heads taller than the other asked.

"Yes, Zabusa, we are to wait… everything is in motion…" the man answered before turning to the other much smaller companion they had. "You are to choose soon, Haku…" he said blankly.

"Of course…" the raven boy said, eyes on the ground as his lips trembled.

"It's for the best Haku, do this for me at least…" Zabusa said, patting the boy on the head gently.

"But you could come with!"

"They cannot pardon my sins… the world knows my name, has seen my face… you on the other hand, is a nameless, faceless rouge they knew nothing of…" he trailed as he saw another butterfly flutter towards the mysterious man. "What is it?"

"Hmmm… currently nothing new, just an update on the other teams… more importantly, we focus on this coming month… any new requests that came in Zabusa?" the masked man asked sending a bird off as he does so.

"…there was this one, a bit too fishy to me, I don't trust the guy, but he offers good money."

"Oh?"

"…yeah, you know Gatou right?" Zabusa said from his perch on a carved single settee.

"Not quite… do tell me, who is this man…" the man asked, a smirk painting his lips as the sword-nin told his tale.

**.**

"Anything new?"

"Not yet there ain't, good sir, jus' few lil gossips 'ere n there…" said a bubbly red head as he wiped the counter table at the bar. "Ey, ey, 'ave ye 'eard bout duh small brothel down duh street? Ther's gonna be some big dealing going on there on the morrow at round midnight they say…" he whispered to the man who processed the information before standing.

"Oy! Wait yer horses there sir! Seems like, I got me some new juice fer ya after all…" the bartender said with a broken toothed smile as he gestured discretely to the orange butterfly on his finger. He tilted his head to the side towards the back door while the man nodded in agreement.

"So?" asked the man once they're outside.

"The snake's on the move…" the bartender said, voice not doing the drawl he had in the bar. "So, I was told I need to move too…" the man grinned toothlessly before he disappeared in a puff of smoke and an innocent kunai lay on the ground before the man.

Stooping low, the man swiftly retrieved the clone and slipped it under his clothes.

_Hey Itachi~_

The man jumped looking left and right for the voice when suddenly a soft laughter sounded around him.

_Don't be so surprised, I'm talking to you via telepathy, we are in physical contact, even if not directly…_

Said the voice again and the man, Itachi shook his head slightly.

_Naruto?_

_Ye~s~?_

_Are you gonna be undetectable?_

_A hundred and gazillion percent sure! I mean, can __**you**__ feel me?_

_No._

_Exactly, I'm all natural essence; I can tune myself with the atmosphere anywhere so I'm basically like not there~~ and I know you have a freaky plant thing in the Akatsuki, but he can't detect me, he himself is unnatural so I can tell if he __**suspects**__ I'm there, __**if**__ he even __**can**__…_

_I see…_

_Oh god! Are you gonna be a mute the entire time we're together? I think I want a break-up right now!_

All that answered the clone was a rich unfamiliar laugh.

**.**

Naruto was eating breakfast the next day he sent the replies, when another butterfly fluttered in through the traps unhindered due to its nature. It fluttered to his finger and puffed out of existence.

"**OMG **original! This is so hot! Listen!" the clone shrieked before a memory flooded in him. He heard the conversation, saw the interaction and heard the most rich and, dare he say think it, sexy laugh he'd ever heard; feeling his cheeks heat at the sudden thought.

**Oooh, does the kit have a crush?**

_Shut it fur-ball!_ The blonde bellowed to the beast before sending a hasty reply giving strict orders to fly as fast as he can in discretion towards his playful clone. Having have done this, a feeling of unsettlement hit him. Slowly, his feet carried him in a slow pace; moving back and forth through the length of his home leisurely.

He felt the embarrassment seeping into his bones as he paced faster and faster before stopping all together in the middle of his home.

_I'm taking a bath._ He announced to himself absently as he tried to nurse his heated cheeks with small fanning of his hand.

***Mhmm… this is gonna be very kinky… remember kit, **_**they **_**haven't **_**dropped**_** yet… it's gonna be more intense than usual… **The fox snickered to his host who stomped to the bathroom, face burning at the implication, his tenant suggested. **Does it count as pedophilia even if it's your touching yourself? **Kurama wondered aloud

_PERVERT!_ Naruto yelled at the fox before slamming the door to his bathroom close, cursing to himself on how he can't shut the canine out to the other side of the door.

**.**

Meanwhile, at a dreary and crumbling piece of architecture called an inn, Itachi shed his cloak and equipment onto the bed before slipping on an arrow-patterned yukata and easing in the obi before tying it tightly at the back in a neat knot. Finished, he folded his hands in a ram sign and there stood a completely, forgettable young man in place of him. He then retrieved the clone kunai who transformed itself into a plain red fan contrasting his deep blue attire.

Forgettable he may think he is, Itachi could never erase his pedigree. It showed on the way he walks, talks, and held himself in any type of crowd. Having had no experience in undercover missions on where he played a specific role, he never did refine his skills of deception. And so the second youngest Uchiha walked in the middle of the street, regal and poised and was instantly targeted by the insignificant trouble seekers, muggers.

Again, the young man was a little more than miffed to run into trouble every single time he tried to 'blend in' with the crowd to try and be inconspicuous and the clone only laughed at him for not knowing the reason why.

Itachi swiftly disposed of the group, discretely, before walking on.

He arrived in the middle of the forest by a small stream of water spouting from a small hole on a rocky hillside down onto the water weathered trail that goes on into the town's farms.

Stopping low, Itachi held back his right sleeve with his left hand after reverse holding the clone fan to swipe a flat water-smoothen stone from the stream and placed it just a half feet from the bank. He flicked his hand once, then twice off water and snapped out a white spotless kerchief before dabbing his fingers onto it.

The kerchief was tucked back in his sleeves after being folded neatly. He tucked the clone fan to his waist and retrieved three candles from his sleeves and settled them on the ground.

He looked to the moon and watched its light shone down around him before folding his hands in a ram sign and then there he was, crouching low beside a stream as the whispering of the wind caressed his locks, Itachi Uchiha in raw flesh and soul.

The raven took the candles and lit them one by one, settling each carefully onto the stone. Finished, he kneeled in front of the candles, eyes closed and hands folded in prayer.

He kneeled there for what seemed like hours before finally his eyes opened to stare at the half-spent candles. A slow smile tugged his lips as he sighed.

"A year has gone again…" he begun softly, listening to the wind as it whispered through his hair. "…I am well, better than I'd thought to be. I am not lost for I have someone shining my path. I am not sure about the littlest one though… I hadn't had the courage to reach out to him just yet…" he sighed and parted his lips to speak some more when the clone cut him off.

_Shhh… don't say anymore Itachi, that plant thing is listening in…_

The man took a breath and released it slowly, his smile gone. _…rest peacefully, father, mother, Shisui… _he prayed before gracefully climbing to his feet and setting up his disguise once again and made his way back to the inn and get some rest before again he allow the darkness to embrace him.

**.**

Naruto walked, more like skipped to the graveyard, since no one has bothered him even if they saw him entering the grounds. Usually, some of the visiting families snarl at him on how he doesn't belong there and all the usual crap. But since he is in a henge, no one bothered to look at him twice.

He skipped along and stopped abruptly in front of a grave with a familiar name. Naruto questioned on why was the grave of the Uchiha couple were there when they had their own graveyard and all. He looked around and found that he skipped, literally his destination and stumbled upon the Uchiha side of the graveyard. Absently the blonde rubbed his cheeks in embarrassment before turning on his heel to leave only to freeze and twirl back to face the grave.

_Well I'm free anyways, so why not?_ The blonde thought to himself before crouching low, tucking his 'skirt', seeing as she was disguised as a girl, between his thigh and legs and settled the bouquet of flowers and wooden bucket he was holding to the side. He then brought out a pair of clippers and started tending to the grave oblivious to the pair of ebony eyes watching him due to his good mood.

Finished with cleaning the grave, he scooped up some water from the bucket he had a clone fill and poured it over the grave and finished the last cup around the ground. Finished with this he kneeled onto the slightly damp earth and lit half of the incense he brought, sticking it into the ash hole provided and closed his eyes to pray.

_You're youngest kid's an idiot… _Kurama snorted at this but the blonde just ignored him.

_Not to mention a bastard, but I'm pretty sure, Fugaku-san you're a bigger one…_ Kurama choked this time.

_He's a handful and a big pain, but he's important to me, so I'm sticking around to keep him from getting raped by a pedophiliac of an old snake man…_ Kurama can't seem to breathe anymore.

_Your eldest is in whole different league of 'foolishness' but he's learning and loosening up enough to honor you a few words around this time of the year… he's healing, and I'm thankful of that…_ he said with a soft smile at the memory of Itachi's laughing image.

**Talk about a hot dark angel…** Kurama put in which the blonde scowled at.

_Moving on… worry not of this realm anymore, and sleep peacefully…_ he said with finality which the fox broke again.

**Though, the littlest one is gonna be a hot bad boy too, so whichever's fine… **Kurama shrugged as Naruto hissed at him in his head before standing up abruptly and staring off into space with a frown.

_What is wrong with you? I was having a serious conversation you know?_ He questioned before picking up the flower he sat aside and the bucket, clattering the ladle slightly before turning on his heel and moving for his original destination.

**Just teasing… sheesh, ease up won't you?** The fox said to the snippy blonde wondering absently what the littlest Uchiha thought of his host's actions.

**.**

Sasuke slipped out from his hiding spot, confused. He knew the redheaded girl was Naruto; it was simple really when her features didn't stray too much from the original. Now, the question was why was Naruto cleaning and praying at his parent's grave.

It was only a coincidence since the blonde seemed to question the location earlier before deciding to tend to the grave anyways. That and he didn't bring flowers for the grave.

The raven shook his head with a small confused smile. It really didn't do him good trying to figure out every mystery there is about the blonde so he just shrugged and took it as it is; the blonde visiting his parent's grave and paying respect like a close acquaintance.

_Or maybe son in-law perhaps…_ a little voice in his head countered making him sputter.

He shook his head again and stooped low in front of the grave pulling out a bundle of incense and lighting it before placing it on another hole beside the one where Naruto placed his earlier.

Sasuke just crouched there blankly looking at the name on the ebony stone before sighing and parted his lips to speak.

"I'm sorry for not visiting often… it still hurts to think of what happened…" he started and sighed roughing up his hair in frustration. "I'm sorry for hating Aniki… I did at first but then, I got thinking, something had had happened for him to do it…" he trailed, taking in a shaky breath.

"…there has to be a reason, and I'll find out from him… if I have to beat it out of him, I will." He said in conviction before slowly standing up, wincing at the cramp on his knees before shaking the off and looking back down onto the stone.

"…I am fine, mother, father… surprisingly enough, I am." He said with a soft smile. "I'm an official genin as of today… we'll be placed in teams and given an instructor to train us for the field later on this morning. I'll have to go in a bit so… sleep peacefully." He prayed and stepped away from the grave before turning and walking off.

A dozen or so steps into his walk, Sasuke heard a voice.

"Well, see you later mom, dad!" the voice cheered before turning and walking for the exit that had Sasuke hiding behind a large grave stone in a moment of unexplained panic.

Once the girl that he knew as Naruto bounded off and away, Sasuke slipped out of his hiding spot and circled around to see the grave the blonde visited. The grave was grandeur and held an aura that oozes authority making the raven take a step back just at the intimidation that a _rock_ exudes.

He glanced at the name and blinked. He couldn't read the characters as if they were written to be undecipherable. A dark brow lifted and he surveyed the gravestone for a clue on the identity of whom that was buried there but all he saw was a three pronged kunai with the swirl symbol of Konoha etched as a design onto the shining stone.

Sasuke just shook his head and walked away. He didn't need a headache before going to school. He needed a level head in dealing with his fan girls.

**.**

Naruto found a very suspicious piece of parcel in front of his door steps when he came back from his visit to the graveyard. He took it inside of course after checking and double-checking his triple check of the small box.

Naruto looked at the package Anko, as he figured later on when he read who the sender was, left at his doorstep in suspicion. He had known the woman was crazy when she got him back on a prank that accidentally hit her as well as the target. That was a year ago and since then they had somewhat of a truce and became friends even with the age gap.

But, that doesn't mean he'll trust anything that the woman will give him. This could be a declaration of war for all he knew. So he treads cautiously; taking trepid steps as he peeled the packaging paper from the box. Well as his _clone_ unwrapped the box while he hid behind his kitchen counter.

When finally the package was unwrapped, the clone pinched the edge of the lid with an eyebrow nipper, that the blonde questioned its origins, and shakily lifted it only to yank it up abruptly having had enough of the tension and let out a loud shriek. They shrieked, and yes, Naruto, the original shrieked with him with eyes closed.

The two fell silent and waited for _something_ to happen. When nothing _did_, the two cautiously slipped one eye open and then the other, confirming that, yes, nothing happened.

Curious now, Naruto edged closer to the dining table and peered at the box's content and frowned in disappointment. It was a twin bottle of shampoo and conditioner that Anko recommended to him once, the lid was intact and it was virtually harmless to him. He waved the clone to continue with the standard inspection and sighed as the clone reported it harmless as expected. Naruto frowned and took the small message in the package and read.

_**You need a new do Naru-boy, so I took it upon myself to gift you with this… enjoy~ Anko.**_ The note read.

Naruto shrugged at the implications of the note. It was just a set of shampoo and conditioner, how will it give him a 'new do' he wondered but was thankful nonetheless since he forgot to shop for some toiletries and bathroom amenities. So he took both bottles with him and replaced the empty ones that ran out yesterday and got ready for a bath.

Turning on the shower, he got under it and relaxed his muscles. He soaped up his body absently, thinking of what to eat before going to the academy then reached for the shampoo. He got to admit it smells wonderful, like the breeze. He lathered it on his head and rinsed then reached for the conditioner which had the same smell. He rinsed altogether and got out of the tub and onto his bathroom rug.

He draped a towel on his head as he toweled his body with another. Finished, he tossed the towel onto a rack and moved on to toweling dry his hair. Feeling content at his hair's dryness, Naruto hanged the towel beside its pair and looked at his reflection on the mirror and shrieked.

Clumsily, he tripped over to the tub and reached for the bottle of shampoo and conditioner and read its label.

There it was innocently printed for everyone to read.

'**Extra softening formula, guaranteed to have your hair soft and docile with just one wash!'**

"**MITARASHI ANKO!**" Naruto roared.

**.**

"What did you _do_?" asked a very amused Genma as he listened to echoes of the blonde's bellow.

"You'll see~" Anko said playfully as he bit of a piece of dango from a stick.

**.**

Naruto walked into the class room and have it plummeting into silence. He walked over to a seat beside the bastard since it the last free ones were beside him. He kept to himself and sat a seat away ignoring how the room was still in dead silence.

"Naruto? What the hell? What's up with that get up man?" Inuzuka Kiba, an idiot douchebag that somehow Naruto befriended asked with a wide grin. "…finally answering the call of the feminine genes?" he asked slyly which the blonde only returned with a snarl.

"Shut up asshole!"

"NARUTO?" the whole class droned out his comeback with their disbelieving below.

Well, the boy in question couldn't really blame them for not recognizing him. His spiky hair was down in a still unruly mess but in an appealing way. He wasn't wearing his orange jump suit and wore the third's gift of a deep orange sleeveless hoodie over a long-sleeved turtle-necked mesh shirt paired with deep brown cargo shorts with the standard shinobi sandals over a combat bandage-wrapped feet and shins.

"Fuck off!" Naruto screamed to the class before collapsing onto his seat with a scowl.

"Huh." Sasuke managed as he looked at the blonde in disbelief.

Having heard the noise Naruto turned to glare at the youngest Uchiha before jumping onto the desk, walking over to the rave and crouching low in front of him with a sneer and said. "Whatcha you lookin' at? huh?"

Sasuke returned the glare after missing half a beat and butting his forehead with the blonde's none too gently.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING NARUTO?" Sakura bellowed into the background as the two stared off.

They glared at each other a little over three to four beats before something happened that froze the female genin population's blood.

The occupant of the seat in front of Sasuke's knocked the blonde over to Sasuke making the two touch lips.

Three things happened in a split second. Sasuke turned away to gag away the feeling, Naruto flipped away to land at the teacher's desk then gagged and drops of blood were shed as the new generation of fujioshi legion was born.

***- meaning the balls, the golden balls people!**

**A/N: okay, so~ just wanted to point out that the reason why I had Itachi do the whole grave visiting thing by a stream is cuz, souls tend to linger beside running water according to Japanese lore so yeah… just sayin' if anyone thought 'why there?' kay? Okay. Peace out.**


End file.
